The second-generation Smart ForFour has been seen for the first time while undergoing winter testing in Sweden.

Seen driving on ice and snow and inside a shed alongside its smaller and previously spied ForTwo sibling, the Smart ForFour is still heavily camouflaged, though it does appear to have different headlight clusters.

Reported to be 3505mm long – 247mm shorter than its predecessor – the head of Smart recently confirmed that both the next ForFour and the third-generation ForTwo will share up to 70 per cent of their parts with the newly revealed Renault Twingo.

Jointly developed by Renault and Smart‘s parent company Daimler, all three models will share the same rear-engine, rear-drive platform, however, Smart says its models will have no resemblance to the new French city car.

The Twingo's two three-cylinder petrol engines – a 51kW naturally aspirated 1.0-litre and a 66kW turbocharged 0.9-litre – will carry over to the Smarts, however, an electric version is rumoured to be a point of differentiation.

Previewed by the Smart FourJoy concept unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt motor show, the new ForFour will be the first of its kind since the first-generation ceased production in June 2006. It's expected to boast some quirky styling elements - the car above, for example, clearly has an orange body colour and silver/grey doors.